Politics of the absurd from David Davies SIR – David Davies MP leaves a lot of unanswered questions every time he speaks (Gillian’s university talk leaves Tories in a spin, Western Mail, June 4).

If his comments are to be believed, Davies now wants wholly competitive public service delivery in Wales.

He wants the Assembly’s powers to take powers away from councils to be extended to Westminster, allowing Westminster to competitively take powers from the Assembly.

He does not specify a limit on this arrangement or say whether such bodies as the EU or other multi or international bodies would be exempt from this process. He also fails to say whether EU withdrawal could be the logical end of this policy.

At best this is an attempt at attention seeking by using absurd political theatre.

At worst, if sincerely held, this idea is an infantile, make-it-up- as-you-go-along, piece of forehead-slappingly stupid literal-minded, over-rationalist and cretinous, political gibberish.

Perhaps he genuinely is hopelessly naive.

Is there something of the manic teenage Trotskyite about him? You know the sort, the middle-class, half-educated, spotty youth, who wills the destruction of the world in order to spite those who fail to share his apocalyptic vision?

Aside from the fact that the long-term consequences of his potty plan would cause administrative anarchy, this is a wholly woolly idea that is a mish-mash of pre-existing and obviously incompatible positions.

At heart his plan is classic liberal devolution; it encompasses competition as the crucial element of citizen loyalty and is grounded on what we could call a consumer/client state view of the world – in Davies’ utopia it would be a version of it pushed, as all things are in Davies’ fantasy world, to its ultimate and nightmarish logical conclusion.

However, so far as we know Davies is a fan of the supposed opposite of this idea.

He is supposed to believe that any change to our so-called ancient constitution is dangerous and would lead to the disintegration of our supposedly flexible constitution.

We should now add ultra-crude Marxist historical inevitability to Davies’ list of weird and wonderful nonsense.

This eccentric and uber-rationalist idea is at least as old as the Reformation. This ultra-Catholic view, when extended to politics is opposed to all modern (i.e. anything post-16th-century) ideas like citizens actively choosing who or what to be loyal to.

This is the opposite of the view now being put (or is it opposed?) by Davies.

Is it possible that we have a Tory MP who sincerely believes in a sort of libertarian, Trotskyite permanent revolution, which is ultra-Catholic and pro and anti-devolution, all at the same time?

Perhaps thinking clearly is not one of Davies’ better skills? However I am perfectly prepared to believe that he’s acting out some sort of politics of the absurd, in order to make a theatrical point.

Perhaps this is Davies’ attempt at using rationalism to undermine things like Marxist philosophical rationalism.

On all sorts of important issues we now require either clarification or silence from the member for the Monmouth rebellion.

DAMIAN EDMUNDS Pontnewydd, Gwent

BNP must be banned SIR – We are on the cusp of a truly dangerous metamorphosis.

For the first time in nearly 20 years I am actually hearing in school and college “the BNP is cool – the answer!”.

The worst and most maggot- ridden journey of right-wing fascism seems rapidly crystallising into acceptance and “normalisation”.

Our political and democratic structures are inarguably in need of modernisation – but the political naivety (or worse) of some politicians should not, and must not, collapse a world-revered democracy.

Reform will happen and is under way. This tsunami has swept away any credibility left in accepted politics for most of our young people and deposited a terrible debris.

The untold and unimaginable anguish of Nazi generational genocide and its pursuance of “a perfect race – the perfect face” is indeed looking at us today.

It can be argued there is a real possibility in parts of the UK for civil strife.

But a Yugoslavian spectre within our shores engendered by a global soft sell of fascist and racist views is not the “ready meal answer” to the current mess.

The BNP is not legitimate and I do not understand why the BNP is allowed legislative legitimacy.

It is plain wrong. I am asking people to think hard and be politically incorrect – ban the BNP and clean up politics.

RHIANON PASSMORE Tysign, Risca

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Wind is not the way SIR – The green organisations, Green Party and the major political parties have all been criticised by engineers for their naive and damaging intentions for our power-generating system.

Nigel Baker of Greenpeace (Letters, June 4) gives no cause for hope by his mistaken definition of peak-oil as “running out of oil”.

Peak-oil means “highest ever extraction of oil” and assuming that we have reached that point in history (we don’t know yet), it is indeed a source of concern, as we shall have to replace it with other energy sources.

Coal will last very much longer than oil, but again the supply is finite. We should have been looking at alternatives for several decades, but green politics and the green NGOs have persuaded government blindly to accept that intermittent renewables will solve this problem.

We are now in a situation where the intermediate years between a fossil-fuelled economy and an alternative now loom over us as a frightening time of power shortage and economic decline. Mr Baker’s support for wind power is misplaced. Wind turbines are the largest rotating structures ever built on Earth and not one of the bigger machines has been tested for even a half of its predicted lifetime.

They are incredibly expensive with a capital cost per achieved unit of output three or four times that of conventional generators, which would not matter if the green campaigners were right in telling us the wind is free.

Unfortunately it isn’t, as it needs a back-up energy subsidy. Two giant power companies, E.on UK and Iberdrola, have warned that if we have a lot of wind power we shall also need back-up generators totalling 80% to 90% of the installed wind capacity to cope when the wind is not at best speed.

Nigel and his confederates have manoeuvred our Government into a position where perforce it is returning to nuclear power and also proposes another loser, the use of coal-firing fitted with carbon capture and storage.

It would be a tragic paradox if some of this new generating capacity were to be used just to allow the building of more wind turbines!

Dr JOHN ETHERINGTON Llanhowell, Pembrokeshire

The facts on power SIR – Nigel Baker (Letters, June 4) castigates Dave Haskell for his opinion that the Sun controls the Earth’s climate and for his dismissal of wind energy.

Well, there has been no proven global temperature rise for 11 years – fact. North America, China and much of Europe had severe weather last winter, after the global warmers claimed, a few years ago, that all winters would get warmer. That is a second fact.

Wind turbines cannot turn without sufficient wind, and only produce around a derisory quarter of their installed capacity at unpredictable times... a third fact!! Therefore, back-up fossil fuel power stations in the UK are never switched off to accommodate wind... a fourth fact! Wales uses 2,000 megawatts and generates more than 4,000 megawatts, without counting wind energy; the excess is going to England... a fifth fact. A further 2,000Mw gas-fired power station is being built at Pembroke... a sixth fact.

Now, will Nigel Baker address each of these six facts, please, instead of waffling inconclusively?

Since he lives in Cathedral Road, Cardiff, would he support the installation of four 400-ft- high wind turbines behind his home in Sophia Gardens? Their combined installed capacity would be 8Mw,but they would generate a pathetic, intermittent 2Mw in total, due to the vagaries of the wind – and none at all under the recent high pressure!

Of course, when turning well, their night-time Thump! Thump! Thump! would ensure no-one would sleep in the guesthouses of Cathedral Road, but that would not worry Nigel Baker. He’s an enthusiastic wind energy supporter, not a Nimby!

LYN JENKINS Gwbert, Cardigan

Involve the young SIR – I and other elected members in Caerphilly County Borough Council attended a seminar with Sir Emyr Jones Parry, chairman of the All Wales Convention.

I explained that we must engage with young people more in regards to politics. I was pleased to see your report (“Convention leader says it’s vital young engage in politics”, Western Mail, May 30). I am pleased that these matters are being taken forward by the All Wales Convention.

KEVIN ETHERIDGE Forest Hill, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood

Hard-hat ‘nonsense’ SIR – Edwina Hart, Minister for Health and Social Services, came all the way up to North Wales to cut the first piece of soil for a new medical centre.

Although this was in a field hundreds of yards from anywhere, she wore a “hard hat”.

Such nonsensical practices prove that common sense has given way to Soviet-style obedience to rules that no-one dare challenge.